Dan Fishback: The new face of the Religious Right

The Washington Post recently declared George W. Bush the new "leader of the Christian right." Yes, I was scared too -- not because it seems archaic, but because it seems progressive. On the surface, a Christian right led by Bush is much less scary than one led by Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell. Bush's rhetoric is far less evangelical. He even appointed a gay man to an important federal post. Anita Bryant must be rolling over in her grave.

Progress? Kinda. If it's progress when the president of the United States cannot be overtly heterosexist or discriminatory, if it's progress when he cannot preach in so many words the supremacy of a single religion, then yes, this is progress. It means that the acceptable norms have moved to the left. It means that the rules of the game have changed.

All right, so political etiquette has shifted -- but have the politicians under its power made a corresponding moral scootch? There's no real way to be sure.

Whenever traditional intolerance falls out of vogue, and the soldiers of conservatism surrender to the political manners of an emerging left, it becomes increasingly difficult to tell what people are really thinking. You can't really pick out a bigot, because the bigots that matter -- the clever ones -- will keep their mouths shut. Their language degenerates into code. Sexism and heterosexism become "family values." Racism becomes "welfare reform." Xenophobia becomes "patriotism."

Their language has shifted, but their values have not. They're still probably intolerant -- they're just more polite about it.

So with Pat Robertson resigning as president of the Christian Coalition, and Bush being hailed as the new leader of the Christian right, I don't necessarily see any substantive progress. I see new rules around which the old conservative tenets will dodge. I see a shift in discourse that will inevitably cloud our perspective on our leaders.

In a United States where politicians disregarded progressive linguistic etiquette and simply spewed their prejudices unfettered, perhaps fiscally conservative, socially liberal voters would think twice about punching through Republican chads on Election Day. In the real world, where politicians largely mind their manners, these voters are saved from a guilty conscience and can vote for a tight budget without fearing for their friends' civil rights. In that real world, socially decent Republicans are conned into thinking they aren't in fact casting votes for intolerance. They vote for Bush, who seems centrist enough, but then he goes and appoints less-well-mannered folks like John Ashcroft.

The problem isn't that our leaders seem polite -- there's only a problem if their politeness doesn't trickle down to all their policies and actions. Such a pervasive change won't happen if those actions remain largely out of the public eye. Just like any other matter of etiquette, when no one is looking, we can be awfully rude. We belch, we fart, we pick our noses. Correspondingly, when the mass public does not scrutinize political behavior, politicians will let their guard down and let their true values show.

There is little immediate point, therefore, in a population that generally disapproves of prejudice if that viewing public does not actively look for prejudice where it matters.

The trick, then, is to hold our leaders to their language -- to pressure them to make good on their adherence to the new rules.

Politics is performative. We can bemoan this state of affairs, or we can use it to our advantage. We can be -- we must be -- a good audience, an attentive audience and an active audience. We have to be ready with a bag of tomatoes to slug at our leaders when they err. Or perhaps -- more politely -- we can just write letters, protest and generally make our voices heard.

We have to capitalize on the changing tide of social acceptability and not just let it run its course. Fine -- let our President be the de facto leader of the Christian right -- as long as he not only minds his manners, but follows through on them.

Dan Fishback is a junior American Identities major from Olney, Md.

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